There is some argument as to the origination of the term “behavior-based safety.” Some say Geller but many others say it was Dan Petersen. The evidence seems to favor Petersen who wrote 17 safety books before his death in 2007, and was probably the best known safety professional in the United States. In 1978 he wrote, Safety Management: A Human Approach[xi] and referred to the research and writings of B.F. Skinner, the father of behavior analysis.
It is clear that behavior analysis is the scientific foundation of the field. As Krause[xii] (1997) so aptly states,” …the phrase behavior-based safety refers strictly to the use of applied behavior analysis methods to achieve continuous improvement in safety performance.”